Recurring Dumpster Tasks Overview

Docket gives you two types of tasks:

1. One-time tasks for short-term rentals. Click here to learn more.
2. Recurring tasks for long-term rentals.

Recurring tasks are how you schedule regular services for long-term rentals in Docket. When a client needs the same service on a set schedule, a recurring task generates all those service appointments at once instead of your team creating each one manually.

Setting up a recurring task follows the same flow as a one-time task with one additional step.

Before You Start

Here are a few things to know before you continue:

• The original drop off task for the rental must already exist before you can create a recurring service task related to it.
• The end date for a recurring task should be the last date a driver completes that service. It should NOT be the pick up date (the pick up is a separate task).
• You can't update a recurring task's series once it's been saved. If you need to change details on a recurring task across all instances, like the frequency, dumpster size, or weight allowance, you'll need to delete its future instances and recreate them.
• If order entry and billing are handled by different people/teams, set up a process for who creates invoices and when that happens before anyone starts creating recurring tasks.

Create a Recurring Dumpster Task

Recurring tasks work best for services that happen on a fixed schedule throughout a long-term rental, like a weekly Dump and Return or a monthly Exchange. 

To create a recurring dumpster task, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click the "+ New" button anywhere in your Docket account.
2. Click on "Schedule Event" from the menu that appears.
3. Select "Dumpster Task" from the options that appear.
   
   
4. Start typing the client's name and click on their name when it appears.
   
   TIP: If this is a new client, add their name (and company, if needed) directly in the appropriate fields and Docket will save them to your client list when the task is created.
5. Select additional information about the client as needed.
6. Click "Continue to Billing Address" at the bottom.
   
   
7. Select the service address where the dumpster is needed if the rental is for a previously used address for an existing client.
   
   
   
   TIP: Click "Create New Address" and fill out the form in order to save a new service address to a new or existing client's profile. Click "Continue to Task" after you've filled it out.
   
   
8. Select the task type from the top that matches the needed recurring service.
9. Select the initial Drop Off task from the dropdown to connect this recurring task to the original drop off task for this rental.
   
   TIP: If you can't find the drop off task in the dropdown, click the search link to look it up by its task ID number. You can find the task ID by at the top of the drop off task.
10. Select the Dumpster Size needed for this task.
    
    
11. In the Scheduling section, enter the date for the first recurring service to be completed on. This should be after the initial drop off date.
12. Use the Repeat dropdown to set how often this task should recur. 
    
    TIP: If none of the preset options match your schedule, select "Custom" to build your own.
13. Set the Recurring End Date to the last time a driver will complete this service or check the Never Ends box if you want to keep the task open-ended.
    
    TIP: This shouldn't be the pick up date since that's a separate task.
    
    
14. Fill in the rest of the task details the same way you would for a one-time task. 
15. Click "Create" to save the recurring task and see it on your Schedule and Dispatch pages.

Your billing automations will run the same way they do for a one-time task, so you may see the invoice editor appear after saving the task. 

If you click "Exit Editor" at the top, the invoice won't be saved and you or your billing team will then need to find the task later to generate the invoice.

If you click on a recurring task on the Schedule page, the next instance of that task will be highlighted in green to show you the connection. 

You'll also see a decimal in the task ID to indicate that it's part of a series (in the screenshot below we see #198 is the first recurring task while its future instances are #198.1, #198.2, #198.3, and #198.4).

To navigate between individual instances of a recurring task, click on one of them and use the navigation at the top to cycle through each one.

End or Delete a Recurring Task

If a client's rental ends early or if you selected "Never Ends" on a recurring task series and need to stop it, you can end a recurring task at any time. 

You can also easily remove a single task within a recurring series if a service needs to be skipped or isn't needed.

To end a recurring task or delete a single instance, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click on any instance of the recurring task on your Schedule page to open it.
2. If needed, use the navigation at the top of the task to find the first task in this recurring series that shouldn't be completed.
3. Click on "Actions" at the top.
   
   
4. Click "Delete" from the menu that appears.
   
   
5. Select one of the deletion options from the prompt that appears.
   
   TIP: Previously completed instances of this recurring task won't be affected and will remain on the Schedule and Dispatch pages.
   
   

You'll see all the tasks disappear from your Schedule after clicking one of these options.

TIP: Make sure to create the pick up task if you haven't already!

Change a Recurring Task's Details

It's important to note that you can't update a recurring task's series once it's been saved; there's no way to make a change across all instances at once.

If you need to change a recurring task's details, like the frequency, day of the week, weight allowance, etc...you'll need to delete the remaining tasks in the series and recreate it with the updates.

However, if you need to change the details on a single instance within a recurring task series you can easily do that by opening the task, making your changes, and then clicking "Update" at the bottom.

TIP: The next instance in that recurring task series will flag your changes in the previous instance in case you need to continue applying that change to future instances.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@yourdocket.com!